He also said the debt forecast is coming down, and by the end of the Parliament will have fallen significantly, saying that there is now “light at the end of the tunnel”.

Speaking to MPs this lunchtime he said the Office for Budget Responsibility had revised economic growth for 2018 up from 1.4 per cent to 1.5 per cent.

He said it will remain unchanged at 1.3 per cent in 2019 and 2020, before picking up to 1.4 per cent in 2021 and 1.5 per cent in 2022.

And the Chancellor said borrowing was due to fall in every year of the forecast, with debt predicted at nearly 1 per cent lower than in November.

Borrowing is now forecast to be £45.2billion this year, £4.7billion lower than forecast in November.

The Chancellor revealed growth has been revised up for next year

The OBR predict that debt as a share of GDP will peak at 85.6 per cent in 2017-18 then fall to 85.5 per cent in 2018-19, then 85.1 per cent, 82.1 per cent the year after, 78.3 per cent in 2022, and finally 77.9 per cent in 2022-23.

Mr Hammond said it is expected to be "the first sustained fall in debt for 17 years, a turning point in the nation's recovery from the financial crisis of a decade ago".

QUIT THE BULLYING

KITKAT BREXIT

It was revealed that the Chancellor told Cabinet during their meeting earlier today that the slightly stronger productivity growth seen over the last two quarters was the key to increasing wages.

Theresa May’s spokesman said Mr Hammond claimed there was still work to be done, but the Government would always take a balanced approach to reducing the debt, investing in public services and keeping taxes low.

In his speech today he said there had been "solid progress towards building an economy that works for everyone" with growth every year since 2010.

And he accused Labour of "relentlessly talking Britain down" with "doom and gloom about the state of the nation".